Slow start to migrant relocation process
Malta expecting first group of 21 asylum seekers under pledged EU quota
Malta is currently expecting its first arrivals of asylum seekers under the European Union’s refugee relocation programme – a process that has so far not come up to expectations.
Malta pledged to take in 131 asylum seekers, but just under 20% of them are yet to be processed.
“Malta is currently expecting the first arrivals. It has only recently received six names from Greece and 15 from Italy, a total of 21,” a spokesperson for the Ministry for Home Affairs told MaltaToday.
In September last year, EU member states agreed to the relocation of 160,000 asylum seekers and refugees from Italy and Greece, as a strategy meant to counteract the denunciation of a Fortress Europe which was not living up to its values of “solidarity”.
But the process has been very slow, with the EU Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, urging member states to speed up the implementation of the programme: only 497 refugees have been relocated so far.
“The results are very poor. So right now we have to step up our efforts for all member states to do their part,” Avramopoulos told a press conference in Brussels this week. “We need urgently to switch gears on relocation.”
Questioned by MaltaToday, the Ministry for Home Affairs admitted that the pace was “perhaps not as quick as one would wish”.
“Nonetheless, the relocation of persons is ongoing and is expected to continue throughout the coming two years. It may also be noted that this is the first time that the European Union is conducting relocations on such a wide scale and lessons will have to continue to be learnt on how to improve such a mechanism,” the ministry said.
“It is definitely a huge change from the large, unregulated flows that our country was experiencing until three years ago.”
A parliamentary reply tabled by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela confirmed that the number of irregular migrants reaching Malta’s shores in 2015 dropped drastically when compared to 2008 and 2013.
The numbers dropped from 2,775 arrivals in 2008 to just 100 in 2015. The figure is part of the much larger total of irregular migrants and refugees who sought shelter in Europe: over a million irregular migrants and refugees reached Europe last year, mostly from Syria, Africa and South Asia.
The first group of asylum seekers under the relocation programme will reach Malta after the necessary security checks are carried out. According to the ministry, the asylum seekers will be accommodated at an initial reception centre, after which they will be “offered the possibility” to stay in an open accommodation centre. They will from then on go through the asylum procedure.
The exhaustive asylum process that will take place in Malta is also a reflection of the member states’ delays in implementing the necessary preparations for the operation of the programme.
The foreseen rollout of 11 identified hotspots – special centres for registering migrants in Greece and Italy – by the Italian and Greek authorities has been slow, due in part to the need to build them from scratch and to shortcomings in infrastructure, staffing and coordination.
Only three hotspots – in Lampedusa, Pozzallo and Lesvos – are fully operational. The Lampedusa and Pozzallo hotspots have reached a 100% fingerprinting rate for the most recent disembarkations.
Official EU data show that Italy is still far behind the rate necessary to achieve the overall target to relocate 39,600 people in need of international protection in two years. In total, 279 applicants have been relocated to date, with 200 outstanding relocation requests having been sent to other member states.
“So far, only 15 member states have made relocation places available with pledges to receive 966 people, while 20 member states have appointed liaison officers to support the process on the ground. The low implementation rate is largely due to the limited arrivals of eligible migrants on the Italian territory,” the European Commission said this week.
In the case of Greece, the relocation of 66,400 people has started very slowly with only 218 relocations so far. Only 15 member states have offered places to Greece for relocations, providing for 1,081 places, while 16 member states have appointed liaison officers to support the process on the ground.
In December 2015, the Commission approved an €80 million programme to support reception capacity in Greece, including a network of 20,000 places for asylum seekers run by UNHCR, as well as supporting the establishment of 7,000 places in the hotspots areas.
Emergency relocation pledges | ||
---|---|---|
Place made available | Remaining places from 160,000 | |
Austria | - | 1,953 |
Belgium | 30 | 3,806 |
Bulgaria | 1,302 | 1,302 |
Croatia | - | 968 |
Cyprus | 30 | 320 |
Czech Republic | - | 2,691 |
Denmark | - | N/A |
Estonia | - | 329 |
Finland | 150 | 1,967 |
France | 900 | 19,694 |
Germany | 40 | 27,515 |
Greece | - | N/A |
Hungary | - | 1,294 |
Ireland | 20 | 600 |
Italy | - | N/A |
Latvia | 481 | 481 |
Lithuania | 40 | 667 |
Luxembourg | 90 | 527 |
Malta | 131 | 131 |
Netherlands | 100 | 5,947 |
Poland | 100 | 6,182 |
Portugal | 100 | 2,927 |
Romania | 300 | 4,180 |
Slovakia | - | 902 |
Slovenia | - | 567 |
Spain | - | 9,305 |
Sweden | 50 | 3,727 |
United Kingdom | 300 | N/A |